


And The Rest of Our Lives Would Have Fared Well

by moreculturelesspop



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Always Female Castiel (Supernatural), Childbirth, Cute, Daddy Dean, F/M, Female Castiel/Male Dean Winchester, Fluffy Ending, Happy Ending, Kid Fic, Parenthood, Post-Season/Series 15, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25991686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moreculturelesspop/pseuds/moreculturelesspop
Summary: Sam knew this day would happen, but it still feels strange when Dean moves out. The bunker is too empty without his music, his swearing, his cooking, his fights with Cas.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 13
Kudos: 74





	And The Rest of Our Lives Would Have Fared Well

Sam knew this day would happen, but it still feels strange when Dean moves out. The bunker is too empty without his music, his swearing, his cooking, his fights with Cas. 

It had barely been a month since God’s demise when Dean announces that he and Cas have found a house nearby and were quitting hunting. They need to take some time out from this world, Sam’s world of research, shotguns and long drives. It wasn’t forever, he says, but Sam’s gut knows it is.

“I’m so tired man!” he says, rubbing his eyes. Sam understands, but he can’t ignore the irony of him falling in love with hunting just as Dean quits. He had just presumed that they would become a little hunting foursome, him and Eileen plus Dean and Cas. Cas becomes human around the same time. Naomi told her that she either went back to a locked heaven or gave up her angel privileges. Without thinking about it she chooses humanity. She chooses Dean. “You deserve the world Sammy, to start a new life with Eileen. You don’t need me anymore, they don’t need us anymore, we’ve sacrificed enough man! Don’t we deserve something good?”

The house Dean and Cas buy is a nice three bedroom home with a porch and a little yard. It has a garage for Baby and a little shed for Cas’. They have separate bedrooms, he checks the first time he visits them. Cas’ trench is laid over the back of the chair of one room, Dean’s laptop laid on the bed of the other. Dean seems happy, he buys a swing for the porch and a hammock for the little garden. Cas tends to the garden and learns all the Latin names of the plants. The neighbors just presume they are a pleasant, if not slightly eccentric, couple. There are no hints of their former life in the home, just music biographies and cookbooks. 

“I’m glad you’re happy Dean,” and he means it. It had been so long since they had been apart and it was a big change for both of them. Waking up beside a partner and not having to worry about demons, angels and supreme beings took a bit of an adjustment. Getting up to not find Dean swearing at the coffee machine was an even bigger adjustment. He tries not to be bitter that Dean had pulled him into this world, made him falling in love with it again only to walk off into the sunset with Cas.

Whenever he visits Dean, he is laying in the hammock, rocking in time to the radio in the background. “Cas likes the hammock, it reminds her of flying. Think she misses the wings sometimes,” Dean shrugs like it’s not the most romantic thing Sam has ever heard. Cas is always doing something like painting, gardening or cooking. She keeps herself busy learning about a world she had only observed from a distance.

“The rose bush attacked me again,” Cas whimpers, sucking at her bloody finger.

“Put it under the sink. You got to watch those little pricks.” She squints and rolls her eyes at him.

“You and Cas going well?” Sam murmurs as Dean struggles to get out the hammock.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he snaps. “We’re friends and she’s handy to have around.” Yep, he was still oblivious to their relationship. He watches him put a plaster on her index finger, using a gentle tenderness he hadn’t seen since he was a kid. He always knew one of Dean’s biggest regrets was not being there the first time Cas was human, especially when she was essentially sexually assaulted by a reaper.

He leaves Dean and Cas’ happy in knowing that they were going to be okay in their new life together. The next time he sees Dean it’s five months later, he visits them in the bunker which has become a base for all the hunters in the country.

“So you’re the new Bobby?” Dean asks.

“I guess,” he shrugs. “How’s being human going?” he asks Cas.

“I’m very tired. You spend so much time urinating, it’s very wasteful.” Cas looks good, dressed in a light blue dress with no trench coat to be seen. Her hair has grown and now she wears it loose in dark waves around her face. She is a little rounder in the face and body, Dean’s diet will do that to a woman. He notices Dean holding the door for her and pulling a seat out for her.

“So, Cas is doing good?” He asks as she goes to the bathroom for the fifth time that night, like she was making it up for her celestial centuries.

“Yeah, she is. Gardening is keeping her busy.” That soft look appears in his eyes again, the one is relieved someone has given him an excuse to talk about the former angel.

“And going to the bathroom,” Eileen laughs.

“It’s apparently why humanity didn’t do anything useful, too much time pissing.” His tones is mean but his look when she sits back next to her is pure love. There is no uncertainty, no looking away when the other one glances in their direction. He even thinks he sees his brother give Cas’ knee a squeeze under the table.

And then he finally admits it to him. “I should probably let you know,” he says, helping him clear up the plates. “Me and Cas, we’re in a relationship.”

“Got your head out your ass then?” he smirks.

“Come on man!” Dean sighs, arms out “She said the same thing.”

“I’m happy for you Dean.”

“I love her. I deserve it don’t I, to be in love?”

“Of course you do,” he says. “I know you’ve liked her for a while, glad you got to tell her before it was too late.” He wishes Cas knew how much Dean missed her when she was dead, he would never tell her about his depression and suicide missions in the same way Cas never told Dean how much she missed him when he became a demon.

“The relationship isn’t that new. It’s been a while, on and off, you know? Sex was great, especially when she hated me. Fight sex is really underrated. I guess we’re just being honest about the chick flick stuff now. We never really had the chance before. I do miss the bunker sex though, bigger tables.”

“Dean!”

“And, I should probably, um, tell you, um,” he stutters and rubs the back of his neck. “How are you and Eileen doing?”

“I’ve brought a ring.”

“You sly dog,” he smiles, patting his back.

“Don’t say anything, I’m waiting for the perfect moment.”

When they sit back down, Dean kisses her on the side of her head and she beams back at him.

After that dinner, he doesn’t see Dean very often, and when he does he’s always alone. Cas appeared to be struggling with humanity and didn’t feel much like venturing out. Dean seemed happy, building a shed and driving around the country as a tourist. He sends pictures of places he visits, of things he makes and sends him invites to silly apps Sam doesn’t have time for.

He proposes to Eileen and she says yes. It’s not as romantic as he was hoping for, no sunsets and fancy meals. She walks out the shower looking especially beautiful, wrapped in a towel with dripping wet hair and smudged eyeliner. He says it before he realises what he says. She blushes and says yes, the ring still in his sock drawer.

When he and Eileen pass by Dean’s part of town after a hunt he feels it to be rude to not visit. Dean greets them on the front porch, looking slightly apprehensive.

“What are you doing here?”

“Passing through on a hunt, thought we might say hi. We’re not interrupting anything, are we?” He slams the car door and looks at his brother. Dean has that shifty look, a look at that says he’s done something he shouldn’t have.

“No,” he quickly replies, “But I should tell you something before you come in,” What had he done now? How had he hurt Cas? “Cas is pregnant.” Not the words he expects to leave his brother’s mouth.

“Congratulations,” Sam smiles.

“I mean like, really pregnant. It’s why she hasn’t been with me the last few visits.” Or in any of his photos, he realises. Sam and Eileen follow Dean up the stairs to his home.

“Hi Cas,” Eileen says.

“Don’t get up!” Dean shouts at her. She ignores him and clambers from their couch to greet the couple.

“Look at you,” Eileen smiles at Cas, as she waddles towards them.

“Two days overdue,” sighs Cas, rubbing her huge belly under her black cotton dress. She had a rounder face and a huge belly, with wild curls escaping a bun, but she looked like their Cas.

“If you want us to leave,” Sam starts. “We didn’t realize.” There was a reason Dean kept things from him. Something must be wrong, or maybe Sam had said something, or perhaps Dean was just being an overprotective jackass.

“No, no,” Cas quickly responds “Will be good to see and speak to someone besides Dean.”

“Oh, thanks,” Dean jests. “Now sit down.”

“It’s not going to fall out,” she tells him with an eye roll, but obeys him anyway. Eileen and Sam follow her into the lounge and take a seat on the other couch, “Before you say something, it’s not Dean’s fault he didn’t tell you. I was worried that it wouldn’t work out, that something would go wrong, I was barely a human when we conceived. We weren’t expecting it to happen so quickly. It was a shock to us. It took some processing for both of us, we are not sure how you would have felt.”

“But we did try the conceiving bit a lot, to our credit,” Dean adds. He sits beside her and throws an arm over her shoulder. It’s a casual move they must now do all the time, but to Sam, it looks so foreign.

“Dean! Please forgive him for not telling you, his crassness less so.”

“It was planned?” Sam asks with a furrowed brow, trying to take it all in. Suddenly, the couple he had lived with for almost a decade, no indication of liking let alone wanting a child, planned to have a baby together?

“I have wanted a baby with Dean for a while, something I presume is unusual for angels. I know Dean has also wanted to be a father for a long time. Now I am human we thought we should try to create a family,” Dean is looking as a Cas with a fondness usually shown towards cars, guns and booze. The early retirement, the house, the yard, it all made sense. Dean was refusing to repeat history, he was going to give his child a safe and stable home. “Now show me the ring,” she leans over and pokes at Eileen’s side. The two girls talk about her engagement ring and their non-existent wedding plans.

“Have a shower and stay the night,” Dean tells him. “I should have told you but we were worried. Jack says everything is good though.”

“Jack knew?”

“He’s omnipotent, knowing things is kinda his thing. He’s pretty happy about being a big brother. And Jody knows because Cas freaked out over some symptom and called her. I guess I was worried, you were so happy and if anything happened it might ruin your happiness.”

“I’m going to make dinner, are you hungry?” Cas interrupts.

“If you don’t mind, we can get takeout if it’s easy.”

“No, cooking is the only thing keeping me sane. It’s making him fat but it’s keeping me sane.”

Watching Cas and Dean cook together is adorable, ten years ago Dean would have scoffed at this version of himself. He stands behind Cas and circles his arms around her belly. He presses kisses to her neck as she stirs the sauce. “Will you sit down, I have it,” he keeps telling her. “Why won’t you just sit down and relax. You’ve done more pregnant than you did defeating Chuck.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t need to do so much if you fixed the birdbath three months ago like I asked.”

They sit and eat dinner as a family, passing the salad bowl and laughing about their years hunting together. “You don’t miss it?” he asks Dean.

“I thought I would, not that I regret it,” he quickly adds. “But no. I get to lie in and go on drives where I can enjoy the scenery. We drive and stop in motels because we want to, not because there is some gruesome crime scene to investigate.”

“Maybe we’ll quit when we start a family,” he says, slyly looking at Eileen. “Someday.”

“I’m not sure I would recommend this,” Cas says rubbing her belly. “It’s very warm and very tiring, also quite painful and lots of peeing.”

“Sex is great though,” Dean adds before taking a swig of beer. “Pregnant women are hot, didn’t think it was my thing but now I get it.”

And of course, they wash up adorably together, bopping each other’s noises with bubbles. When they think he’s not looking he catches them kissing. He had never realised how worried he was that Dean would die a lonely old man who had pushed the woman he loved away.

He goes to bed in the spare room that night (that one that probably was never Cas’) finally at peace with his world. The pastel yellow nursery next door to his room is already set up, waiting for their new arrival. Eileen sneaks a look as the couple clean their teeth together, taking in the star mobile and the teddy bear with angel wings sat in the crib.

When he wakes up in the night, dehydrated, he notices the main master bedroom door is open. He goes downstairs and investigates the noise. Cas is bouncing on a pink birthing ball and Dean is sat on the couch in front of her. His head is buried in her chest and her arms are around his shoulders. He is mumbling words he can’t hear into her chest as she rocks on the ball. He leans up and kisses her deeply before speaking softly to her stomach.

“Hello Sam,” she says. Dean doesn’t leave his spot which seems especially appreciated when Cas tips her head back in pain.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she smiles, stroking Dean’s hair. “Baby is very active at night, I find lying down especially uncomfortable.” He nods silently and gets his glass of water from the kitchen tap. He can’t help but watch his brother act so softly with Cas, kissing her deeply and cradling her belly. Once the shock was over, her pregnancy wasn’t as surprising as it should have been, it felt like the last piece in his brother’s puzzle.

When he wakes up, early as ever, leaving Eileen in bed, the couple are asleep on the couch. Dean is sat with his head tipped back, snoring lightly, whilst Cas is on her side using his lap as a pillow. He thinks he is quietly making coffee when Cas sneaks up on him, an impressive feat for a heavily pregnant lady.

“Sam,” she whispers. “Sorry to startle you.”

“Are you okay?”

“I believe my labor may have started.”

“Anything you want us to do for you? Drive you somewhere or-?”

“No, I think Dean would want you here. Of course, I understand you don’t want to be here but if you don’t mind, he would appreciate having someone here. He thinks something will go wrong, like Jack’s birth, of course, we are both human and neither of us is the devil.”

“Of course we will. Just let me know how me and Eileen can help,” she hugs him and it’s a strange sensation to feel her hard bump against his body. “One question. Does Dean still sleep with a gun under his pillow?”

“At first, yes. But not anymore. There are plenty of wards up, even more when I told him my news, but the gun is in the sock drawer. I don’t think he has totally forgiven me for stealing the Colt those years ago.”

“You stole it from under his pillow? Yet I didn’t clock that you were sleeping together?” She shrugs and smirks. No wonder he always knew when she had left the bunker early or was yet to return home from her mission.

Dean is stirring on the sofa, his hand looking for Cas beside him. She waddles back to his side and sits beside him. “Hey, it’s okay,” she whispers, holding his face in her hands. “Promise not to freak.” He slowly opens his eyes and smiles at her.

“You doing okay?”

“I think I am inactive labor.” Dean’s eyes go as wide as a human beings eyes could possibly go.

“Are you in pain?”

She shakes her head, “Just a little uncomfortable. Very irregular and some back pains.”

“What can I do?”

“Go back to sleep, please. I am going to watch some television and I will make you breakfast later.”

“You expect me to sleep when you’re in pain?” She tips her head and strokes his chin.

Sam goes for a run, noticing how pretty and entirely boring the neighborhood is. When he comes back Dean is led half-asleep on the sofa whilst Cas bounced on the ball in front of him and Eileen is curled up in the armchair watching TV with her.

“I don’t understand why seeing people fall into the water and injure themselves is entertaining,” Cas says, wiggling from side to side on the birthing ball. Dean grunts from behind, absent mindlessly rubbing at her side. She spends the next few hours judging the gripping skills of American Ninja Warrior contestants whilst Dean snores behind her. Cas gets bored four episodes in and decides to make French toast. The smells of breakfast soon perks Dean up as Cas sits it down on the table in front of the couch. Dean sits up and Cas sits beside him on the couch, curling up into his side. He manages to eat and drink around her, a well-choreographed routine. She nibbles bits of his discarded crusts and picks crumbs from his flannel shirt. Sam wonders about all those times Dean took his coffee back to bed. He thought his brother was being lazy and moody, but perhaps Cas was in his room ready to curl back into him.

He’s falling more in love with Eileen by the hour. She runs with Dean and Cas’ constant bickering, helps collect things for Cas and helps her up the stairs when she needs to go to the bathroom. Sam Googles every possible birth complication and trauma because research is what he does when faced with a scary unknown. Eileen rolls her eyes and tells him that a woman’s body knows what to do.

“Don’t drop anything down there, not fishing our baby out the toilet,” Dean jests, every time Cas gets up to go to the bathroom.

“It’s still not funny!” she says every time.

“You doing okay?” Sam asks his brother, once the girls have made their way slowly up the stairs.

“Scared shitless,” he says with a tired smile. “But excited.”

“Never thought I’d become an uncle.”

“Neither did I,” he replies, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. “She’s wanted to start a family for a while. If she’s happy, I’m happy,” Sam wants to say something sarcastic about chick flick moments but he can’t. It had been a long time, if ever, since he had shown emotion in such an unashamed way. They hear Cas groan in pain, causing them both to turn around, “Cas!”

“They’re getting worse,” she groans, leaning against the wall. Dean jumps up to hold her, stroking at the strands of hair that were falling from her top knot.

“What can I do?”

“I think we’re past that,” she chuckles. He tries to help her down the last stairs, his hand on the bottom of her back, Eileen on her other side guiding her.

Eileen sits down next to Sam and whispers, “She’s holding it together for him but she’s in a lot of pain.” He smiles because Dean is scared shitless, as scared as he was when Bobby died, when Michael was locked in his head, when Jack killed that snake. Dean was holding it together for her, and she was keeping it together for him.

Cas doubles over, leaning on her knees as Dean rubs her back. “Say the words and I will drive you to the hospital. Baby is full of gas. I can put plastic sheets down.”

“Hospitals are for sick people. Our child is not an illness.”

“I know he’s not,” Dean calmly says. Cas stands up straight and leans into him, her face nuzzling in his neck.

“It’s a boy?” Sam automatically asks, not meaning to break up their moment.

“We don’t know, we just think he is.”

“I’d like a boy, although we have Jack, being a woman seems very difficult. Generally, I would quite like it to get out,” Cas complains. Dean laughs and kisses her forehead. She looks up at him and they kiss deeply, him rubbing her back still. “Dean, can you bring down the bag from upstairs?”

“You wanna have it in here?” he says, freezing.

“Where do you want me to have it, Missouri?”

“I don’t know, don’t women have baby’s in baths or beds?”

“Dean!” She waddles back to the birthing ball and Eileen reaches out to grab her hand.

“Are you doing okay?” she asks her.

“The waves they are uncomfortable, not painful, I have felt worse. It does seem very cruel of my father to create women’s body’s for procreation, for them to long for a child, to have the process to be so painful. Of course, I imagine the fact it is a stubborn Winchester will only worsen the pain of the process,” When Dean appears the couple set up a bed on the floor of their lounge, pushing back the coffee table and armchair. Cas has taken control of the situation, laying down sheets and towels. “Dean, can you sterilize the tools.”

“I can do it,” Sam interrupts.

“I’ve got it!” Dean shouts, running into the kitchen.

“He’s feeling very helpless,” Cas explains, sitting back on her ball, “He can’t really do anything but wait.” Dean keeps himself busy boiling things and sterilizing scissors. Sam and Eileen take it in turns to hold her hand and she breaths through increasingly more painful contractions.

Dean sits down on the couch again, facing Cas on her ball. “How you doing angel?” he asks, rolling the ball towards him.

“Not an angel anymore,” she mutters, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

“You are,” he smiles, wrapping his arms around her middle “You’re the prettiest angel the lord ever made.” He peppers her face with little kisses and she giggles, Cas actually giggles, a brand new sound to Eileen and Sam. They kiss again and she rubs her face up against him. Sam turns his attention towards the tv, putting his arm around Eileen and letting Dean and Cas enjoy their moment of intimacy.

Cas spends the next hour or so walking around and slow dancing with Dean. She groans and moans but it’s hardly like the TV shows where women are screaming and threatening their partners. In fact, Cas seems to insult Dean less as the waves of pain left her gasping for air. “This is how I thought I would spend my prom. Slow dancing with some chick I knocked up.”

“Biology is a cruel mistress, making me want a child with you,” she says, before squatting down in pain.

“You love me really,” he smiles, helping her to her feet once the contraction is over. She walks back to the sofa and sinks down slowly. “Anything I can do?”

“I don’t know,” she says, a tremor in her voice. He squats down in front of her and buries his head in her chest, she strokes his hair lovingly. “Just stay with me. I need you.”

“Not going anywhere, angel,” He sits down in front of her, on his knees, and she leans over his shoulder. “Where does it hurt?” he asks, rubbing her back.

“Everywhere,” she says, before laughing.

“He’s going to be here soon. Think we’ll get in one last go before he comes? I hear babies really put a dampener on even the best sex lives.”

“Dean! Sam is here,” she scolds. He’s distracting her from the pain, something he did when he was younger and hurt. Dean would insult Sam, laugh at his hair or mock him for reading a girly book. He would make him so annoyed, he would forget about the wound that was being sewn up.

“When he knocks Eileen up he can talk about how amazing the sex is.”

“I’m gonna throw up,” she says, sitting up straight and rubbing her mouth.

“Hey, that’s just mean!”

“No, I’m actually going to be sick,” Dean jumps up but Cas clings onto him. “Don’t go.”

Sam runs into their kitchen and tries to find something suitable to be used. He finds a metallic mixing bowl, the type they use to throw bloody bandages in after hunts. Dean is rubbing her belly and telling her to breath, she is rolling her eyes but breaths along with him. She clutches the bowl as he passes it to her, Dean thanks him under his breath. She heaves over the bowl for a while and to Sam’s surprised Dean holds the bowl for her the whole time. Sam was always mocked and banished to the bathroom when he was sick. He imagines Dean caring for Cas her whole pregnancy, holding her hair through morning sickness, doing late-night runs for cravings, helping her choose maternity clothes.

He starts kissing her neck, trying to distract her from the pains. It doesn’t work and she groans, his face buried in her neck. “Hey, kid,” he says, putting both hands on her bump, “I’m doing some of my best work here. Give your mom a second!”

“Dean!” He stops, his eyes wide at her. “I need gum.”

“Gum?”

“I’ve thrown up and I feel gross.” Sam chuckles but Dean doesn’t laugh. He starts to panic, searching through his jean pockets and he then tries to get up but Cas is clinging onto him.

“Cas, you gotta let go of me if you want gum.”

“You make me feel safe,” she murmurs. “I need you.”

“I’m never going to get bored of hearing you say that.” He snuggles in between her legs again and kisses her belly through the dress. Sam coughs, making Dean look up, and throws a pack of gum at her. He pops a piece of gum into her mouth for her. She leans back again, putting her weight on the arms stretched behind her, and waves the ride of contractions.

“I need to pee,” she groans, sitting forward on the sofa.

“Are you sure. It’s not just the baby?”

“I have spent the last nine months peeing, I think I’d know!” Dean looks to Eileen, who had mostly been taking Cas to the bathroom throughout the day. “You have to come, Dean,” she tells him through gritted teeth. “I need you.” He smiles softly at her and helps her to her feet. He walks behind her up the stairs, hand on the base of her back for guidance.

“I’ve never seen your brother like this,” Eileen tells him, once the couple are upstairs.

“I have never seen him like this. I’m glad.”

“I know, you worry about him.”

When Dean and Cas come back the atmosphere changes. “I’m sorry,” she is repeating.

“You do not need to apologize,” he says, holding her up as she walks down the stairs. She’s been crying, tears splodged down her red face. “It’s fine. Her water broke in the bathroom,” Dean explains before he can ask. He has taken his flannel off, leaving nothing but his t-shirt on. Sam gathers that her water broke on him.

“My water broke in the bathroom.” The terror finally shows on Cas’ face, her eyes wide and her full lips parted.

Cas almost falls to her knees in pain as he leads her across the room, and he has to hold her up “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” she says, a quiver in her voice. “What do I do?” Dean helps her sit down on the sofa, neatly placing the towel out around her. “You got this.”

“I got this,” she smiles, letting out a shaky breath. She leans back with a scrunched up face, rubbing her belly in circular motions.

“They getting more intense?” She nods and starts panting.

“I don’t like this.” They get back into the position where he is on his knees in front of her and she is leaning over his shoulder.

Sam can’t help but time her contractions, he read it was something you were supposed to do. “That was a two-minute contraction.”

“I don’t want to know,” she says into his shoulder. “I just want him here.”

“Me too,” Dean agrees. He pulls away from her belly and rests his forehead against hers. They pant together, kissing between contractions. The moment is too intimate for Sam, far more intimate than walking in on his brother having sex. He walks around the little garden, taking in Cas’ hard work and Dean’s new shed. He wonders if Eileen wants a life like this, not sat in the bunker finding new cases for hunters and helping them with the lore. Maybe she’d want a house, a garden, a family. He promises himself he’s going to talk about it later. He hears a gut-wrenching scream from Cas that makes him run back inside.

She is squatting in front of the sofa on the towel, leaning against the sofa with her hands on Dean’s shoulders. Eileen is now sat on the sofa beside her, letting Cas grip onto her hand.

“She’s in so much pain,” she signs to him. Cas is grunting and panting, trying to catch her breath. She leans back onto the couch, head tipped back and shouts again.

“He’s right there,” Dean whispers. Cas doesn’t reply, she just cries in pain.

“I can feel him kicking,” she says, between gritted teeth. Eileen wipes at her brow with a cold towel and makes soothing noises. Sam sits back in the couch to the side of them, not sure if he should be involved in the situation.

“That’s because he’s excited to see his awesome parents.”

“No! It’s because he is a stubborn Winchester.”

Sam can’t see the worst of it, Dean is blocking the view between her legs, but he could see the way her nails were digging into his shoulders, he could hear the grunts and groans, he could hear the worrying in Dean’s voice as he encouraged her. Eileen is wiping her brow and whispering encouragements to her. Dena’s is kneeling between her legs, waiting to catch their child. Sam doesn’t know how he can stay so calm, watching the woman he loves scream in pain.

And the finally… their baby is born. A little girl is placed on Cas’ chest. Dean is in tears, openly sobbing at the baby laid on Cas’ clothed chest. She eases to the floor, having squatted the whole birth. “It’s a girl,” she smiles. The tiny girl looks up with blue eyes and sneezes. “Oh, no,” she coos. She instinctively knows how to hold her daughter and the baby looks up at her like she knows that’s her mommy.

“Sammy,” he croaks “I have a daughter.”

“Congratulations,” he and Eileen both say.

“We have a daughter,” he tells Cas with a sob, ignoring anyone else in the room. He looks down at his daughter like she is the most beautiful thing to have ever existed. Her daughter reaches out and takes Dean’s finger in her tiny hand. “You’re not a little boy.”

Parenthood comes naturally to Dean and Cas. It was like they waited their whole lives for Marianne to come into their life. Marianne, meaning beloved grace (and a fantastic Leonard Cohen song), is a happy child who knows she has two parents that love her as much as they love each other. “As soon as she looked at me, she had me,” Dean says, wiping a tear away. “Every time she looks at me, it scares me how much I love her.”

Dean won’t take her to the bunker, it’s not a place he associates with happiness. Instead, he lays with her in the hammock watching her learn about the world. He obsessively takes pictures of her and sends them to their small group of friends. Every new dress, every new expression, ever new noise is documented. No one will ever roll their eyes or scoff at Dean’s happiness.

The day he marries Eileen, a small ceremony in a local church, Dean and Cas sit on the front row with Marianne fast asleep in his brother’s arms. They don’t have children, marrying a dead woman will do that, but they love Marianne as if she was their own. Jack is more than overjoyed at his little sister, he becomes fascinated in the way she learns through touch. Her and Jack already share facial expressions and the same frown when they see something unknown. Dean and Cas both go grey and put on more weight than they would have liked, but they are happy. They still bicker and fight, making snide comments to each other throughout the day. He doesn't put his washing in the basket, she forgets the cheese, he won't fix the window but they always kiss and make up. 

The day he sits drinking beer on Dean’s porch, watching Dean try to help his daughter walk across the lawn, is the day he quits hunting. Cas and Eileen are cooking together in the kitchen and when his wife comes back he tells her, “Let's retire.” She smiles and rests her head on his shoulder.

Marianne takes three steps and falls into Dean’s arms. “Cas!” he shouts. “You gotta see how smart our daughter is!” 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are the reason I spend all night writing this fluff. The title comes from New Slang by The Shins and the Leonard Cohen song referenced is So Long Marianne (how relevant are those lyrics?). No one will ever roll their eyes or scoff at Dean’s happiness.


End file.
